HCTW news brief: Nurse whistleblower case sets dangerous precedent
Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, February 12, 2010
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!
Anne Mitchell, RN, a former compliance officer at Winkler County Memorial Hospital, TX, says she was advocating for patients when she sent a letter to the Texas Medical Board last year after observing physician Rolando G. Arafiles Jr. displaying serious lapses in competence and judgment that put patients at risk. She had first raised her concerns with her hospital, but when she felt it wasn't taking action, she reported the physician to the Texas Medical Board.
Arafiles alleged Mitchell filed the complaint to spitefully destroy his reputation and he asked the sheriff to investigate. Mitchell was charged with misuse of official information, a third-degree felony in Texas, because patient medical record numbers were included in the letter, although no patient names were used. Charges against a second nurse who helped write the letter to the Medical Board have been dropped.
The case has caused an uproar in the small Texas town and has come to national prominence. Both the ANA and the Texas Nurses Association have vigorously protested the prosecution and have been raising money for the nurse's legal defense. The ANA also reports the Texas Medical Board has protested the prosecution, complaining that it is improper to criminally prosecute someone for raising complaints with the board; that the complaints were confidential and not subject to subpoena; and that under federal law the Texas Medical Board is exempt from HIPAA.
To read more details, visit www.healthleadersmedia.com.
Source: HealthLeadersMedia.com
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education!
Related Products
-
Hospital Safety Center
Improve compliance with hospital safety standards from The Joint Commission, OSHA, and other regulators with this...
-
Healthcare Life Safety Compliance
Learn Life Safety Code tips and interpretations for healthcare facilities with this in-depth monthly resource.
-
CNA Training Advisor: Lesson Plans for Busy Staff Trainers
Finally-a staff training program that really works!
-
Charge Nurse Program Builder: Tools for Developing Unit Leaders
This all-in-one training resource contains customizable tools, templates, and checklists to help nursing leaders provide...
-
Professional Growth in Staff Development:
Designed to progress staff development professionals along the learning continuum from novice to expert, this resource by...
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- HIPAA Q&A: Flu shot requirement for hospital employees
- Running an effective peer review committee meeting
- HealthDataInsights posts new issues for medical necessity claims
- Sneak Peek: Effort underway to establish caseload benchmarks
- Q/A: Coding for telescopic intraocular lens
- New FAQ posted on storing laryngoscope blades
- Tip: Perform your own internal investigation prior to government audit
- HIPAA 5010 deadline extended, but threat remains, says AMA
- HHS task force: Consider privacy, security with text messages
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- E-mailed
-
- Running an effective peer review committee meeting
- HIPAA Q&A: Flu shot requirement for hospital employees
- HHS task force: Consider privacy, security with text messages
- What does case-mix index mean to you?
- Q/A: Coding for telescopic intraocular lens
- Q/A: Correct use of modifier -PT
- Tip: Correctly code bilateral pain management procedures
- "Wall fountains" may be spreading Legionnaires to patients, visitors
- 2012 CPT code changes for ASCs: Shoulder and knee scopes and pain management
- Case Management Monthly, March 2012
- Searched